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Southern Miss ousts USF

TAMPA -- A seven-run second inning Friday was South Florida's undoing as Southern Miss eliminated it from the Conference USA softball tournament 7-4.

"The game speaks for itself," USF coach Ken Eriksen said. "You can't catch the walks, and that's been the bane of our team all year. That inning was a killer."

USF (24-33-1) took a 3-0 lead in the first, which included a two-out, two-run single by Renee Oursler.

But control problems hurt the Bulls. Channika Grant singled to open the second, and Kenya Peters walked. Laura Smith singled to load the bases. Laura Davis singled to center to score two. After Nikki Trowell walked the next two batters to load the bases, she was replaced by Corin Tassio.

Tassio, who started Thursday's 7-2 quarterfinal loss to Louisville, walked home two runs to fall behind 4-3. Tammy Edwards singled to score another run, and Gant's second hit of the inning, a double to the wall in left-center, scored two more. Southern Miss advanced to the semifinals of the losers bracket, where it beat Louisville 5-3. Louisville defeated East Carolina 3-2 in the day's first elimination game. In the other game, UAB did something no other team had done in 82 innings: score on DePaul's Lindsay Chouinard.

But it couldn't beat the Blue Demons, falling 10-1 in six innings. DePaul advanced to today's championship. UAB struck in the first to end Chouinard's conference record scoreless streak. Beth Mullins laced a Chouinard fastball to the wall in left-center to score Cliffanie Engram. The Blue Demons (45-9) answered in the second. Katy Kukman doubled off the top of the wall in left-center to bring home Sarah Douglas and make it 1-1. April Valdez's single up the middle scored Kukman. DePaul added three in the fourth and four in the sixth, including a Jenny Doezie home run.

Marquette plays UAB at 11 a.m. today. The winner meets DePaul at 2 p.m. for the title. AUBURN 7, FLORIDA 1: The Gators were eliminated from the SEC tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Tigers led 3-0 after three, and a bases-loaded triple by Kasey Angulo gave them a 6-0 lead.

Late Thursday, LSU sent the Gators to the losers bracket 5-0. Britni Sneed tied the tournament mark with 11 strikeouts. Sneed and Kristin Schmidt combined for 12 to tie another record.

FSU 3, UNC 2: Beth Wade's squeeze scored Brandi Stuart in the seventh for the host Seminoles in the ACC tournament. FSU plays Georgia Tech at 1 p.m. today.

TAMPA: Outfielder Kristen Abbott (Plant High) and pitcher Christy Exizian made the All-South Region second team.

Golf

NCAA WOMEN'S EAST REGION: Florida shot 2-over-par 290 to fall to second after two rounds in Baton Rouge, La. Duke shot 280 to take a five-stroke lead. Andrea Vander Lende rebounded from an opening-round 80 to shoot a career-low 2-under 70 and lead the Gators. Jameica Duncombe and Megan Cushman shot 72 to lead USF to fifth.

FLORIDA: The men took second at the Atlanta Intercollegiate in Stockbridge, Ga., five strokes behind Auburn. Camilo Villegas shot 66 in the final round to lead the Gators and finish third overall at 207, 10 behind UAB's Graeme McDowell.

Track

FLORIDA: The women were third with 17 points at the SEC meet in Starkville, Miss., one behind Arkansas. Candice Scott won the hammer throw, and teammate LaQuanda Cotton took third.

USF: Dayana Octavien won the discus at the Conference USA meet in Louisville, Ky., with a throw of 157-10, a conference record. Entering the final day, the women were second, 91/2 points behind Marquette. The men were tied for eighth.

Baseball

LSU 5, FLORIDA 4 (10): Sean Barker scored the winning run for the visiting Tigers. Jamie Goldfarb struck out David Raymer in the 10th, but Brian Rose missed strike three. Trying to get Raymer at first, Rose threw the ball into Raymer's back, allowing Barker to score.

TULANE 15, USF 5: Nick Bourgeois held the host Bulls to two singles over six innings. Tulane led 7-0 after three.

FSU 4, MARYLAND 0: Matt Lynch's complete game lifted the host Seminoles. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out eight.

Basketball

GEORGE MASON: Junior guard Darren Tarver had a heart attack while taking a break during a pickup game. He was in stable condition.

INDIANA: Coach Mike Davis is in the final stages of renegotiating his contract.

UCLA: Jason Kapono, the leading scorer for the past three seasons, will return for his senior season.

WEST VIRGINIA TECH: Drew Catlett, who was the interim coach at West Virginia for the final five games last season, was named coach of the Division II school.

Football

ALABAMA STATE: The board of trustees voted 5-1 to temporarily shelve plans to become the first historically black college to move up to Division I-A.

Women's water polo

Stanford, the No.1 seed, faces fourth-seeded Michigan today, and second-seeded UCLA meets No.3 Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. The winners meet Sunday for the title.

AGENTS: Former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne introduced a bill in Congress that would ban agents from giving gifts and cash to student-athletes to entice them to sign contracts.

NORTHERN COLORADO: The school will petition the NCAA to move its football team from Division II to I-AA and its other teams to I-A.

NORTHERN IOWA: The school is eliminating men's and women's swimming and men's and women's tennis, which is expected to save $327,000 a year.

-- Information from Times wires was used in this report.

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